Notebook

Henin-Hardenne 'fesses up to enjoying watching male players

MELBOURNE, Australia (AP) -- Australian Open finalist Justine Henin-Hardenne likes watching men.

Her favorite is her husband and manager Pierre Yves-Hardenne, "the man who makes me laugh," she says. "That's one of the reason I married him, he's very funny."

But Henin-Hardenne says she likes watching her male colleagues, particularly Andre Agassi and David Nalbandian, because it helps her improve her game.

"I don't wish to offend the other women players on the circuit, but I learn more by watching the men play than I do watching the girls," said Henin-Hardenne.

"You can't compare the two and I am not too shy to say that."

She also thinks that men might also get a buzz out of watching the women play "but are far too macho to say so."

All alone in Athens?

Todd Woodbridge holds the ATP record for career doubles wins, but might not play for Australia at the Athens Olympics. At this stage, he has no partner.

His first choice, regular Davis Cup teammate Wayne Arthurs, is almost certain to partner Paul Hanley if both earn Olympic qualification by being in the world's top 10 doubles rankings by the June 14 cutoff date.

Woodbridge's Sydney 2002 Olympic partner, Mark Woodforde, has retired. They lost to Daniel Nestor and Sebastien Laureau in the gold medal final at Sydney.

With the world's top 50 singles players eligible to play either singles or doubles at the Olympics and Lleyton Hewitt declaring himself unavailable for the Games, Mark Philippoussis is another option, but he may not play doubles.

"That means I could miss out," Woodbridge said. "I could play with Wayne Arthurs, but we may end up with three Australian players in the top 10 by the date of the rankings. So it's a case of having to wait and see."

Woodbridge, who has been a top 10-ranked doubles player for more than a decade and holds a protected top 10 ranking, could choose another Australian to join him if no others are available. That could mean a call up for teenager Todd Reid.

But Reid -- ranked 253 in the world -- rarely plays doubles and would be a risk for Woodbridge to take on as he seeks his second Olympic gold medal at his fourth Games.

On Jan. 17, Woodbridge and Jonas Bjorkman won the adidas International final in Sydney, Woodbridge's 79th career doubles victory. Woodbridge ended last season at 78 doubles titles, tied for the Open era record with retired Dutchman Tom Okker.

Damn the statistics

Don't talk to David Nalbandian about statistics, just cut to the chase. When told after his four-set loss to Roger Federer that the Swiss player made 55 unforced errors to his 30, and that he must be disappointed to lose as a result, Nalbandian said: "I don't care about the statistics. The match is enough to win or lose. Simple."

Nalbandian, who beat Federer at the Australian Open last year in the fourth round, was asked to explain the difference between the two.

"I don't know how many points he won or how many points I won," said an exasperated Nalbandian, the 2002 Wimbledon finalist. "In the big moments he played better. That's the difference."